A Lexical Comparison of Tajik Sign Language and Afghan Sign Language Justin Power The University of Texas at Austin First North American Conference in Iranian Linguistics 28 April 2017 Stony Brook University, New York, USA
Introduction • Are Afghan SL and Tajik SL related? • What is relatedness amongst signed languages? 2
Introduction: Relatedness amongst signed languages • Traditional view: Languages do not have genetic relationships if • Transmission not typically from parent to child • Multiple ancestors cf. Thomason & Kaufman (1988) 3
Introduction: Relatedness amongst signed languages • Sign researchers have differed on question of relatedness • Traditional view: Guerra Currie et al (2002) • Relatedness view: McKee & Kennedy (2000), Woodward (2011) 4
Introduction: Relatedness amongst creoles • Relatedness between creoles and colonial European languages • Traditional view: Creoles do not have genetic relationships • Relatedness view: Mufwene (2001, 2008) cf. Campbell (2013) 5
Outline 1. Background: Afghan Sign Language and Tajik Sign Language 2. Data and methodology 3. Network analysis results 4. Discussion and conclusions 6
Background: Afghan Sign Language (AFSL) • 1992: Vocational training project for ca. 60 deaf refugees in Peshawar • American Sign Language (ASL) used for communication for 2-3 years • 1995: First school for the deaf in Jalalabad • Collection of Afghan signs published • Today: AFSL signers in major cities and locations with education programs • approx. 1,000 students in 3 largest schools for the deaf (2 in Kabul and 1 in Jalalabad) Deaf education programs in Afghanistan 7
Background: Tajik Sign Language • 1940: First school for the deaf in Rudaki south of Dushanbe • Established by Russian educators and caregivers • 1975: Second residential school established in Khujand • Russian Sign Language (RSL) and Russian taught in schools until 1990s • Today: Residential schools in Rudaki and Khujand • total approx. 800 deaf and hard-of-hearing students Deaf education programs in Tajikistan 8
Background: Summary Afghanistan Tajikistan Duration 2-3 years 1940 - 1990s Geography Peshawar Large urban areas (Dushanbe and Khujand) Foreign signers 2 fluent ASL signers Russian educators and caregivers Context Vocational training program Educational institutions for adults (Preschool - grade 10) Features of contact with foreign signed language 9
Data • Afghan SL: Videos collected for dictionary 1 between 2009-12 in Kabul • Tajik SL: Four signers in Dushanbe, collected in 2016 • Russian SL, American SL: Online video dictionaries (spreadthesign.com) 10 1 Shelter Now International and Serve Afghanistan
Data: Afghan signers • Age of signers < 30 • No direct contact with American signers
Data: Tajik signers Signer 1 2 3 4 Age 62 62 52 41 Age at deafness 7-8 Young child Congenital Congenital Age at exposure to 19 28 4 7 Russian signers 12
Methodology: Concept list • 185 total basic vocabulary concepts • Swadesh 100-item list • 100-item list for sign research • 100-item list of least borrowed concepts pronouns, body parts • 151 concepts used in this study 13 Swadesh (1971), Woodward (1978), Haspelmath & Tadmor (2009)
Methodology: Similarity • Comparison of superficial similarity • Similar: synonyms with at least 2 of 3 matching parameters (handshape, location, movement) 14 Guerra Currie et al (2002)
Methodology: Assessing similarity Afghan SL American SL FULL similar in Afghan SL and American SL 15
Methodology: Assessing similarity Tajik Signer 3 Russian SL WATER similar in Tajik SL and Russian SL 16
Methodology: Assessing similarity Tajik Signer 4 Afghan SL NAME dissimilar in Tajik SL and Afghan SL 17
Methodology: Similarity • Distance-based measure of similarity, not cognacy • Split network analysis using NeighborNet in SplitsTree4 18 Bryant & Moulton (2004), Huson & Bryant (2006)
Methodology: Phylogenetic trees and networks • Trees model idealized descent with differentiation from a single ancestor 19 Phylogenetic tree of Indo-European from Figure 8 in Ringe et al (2002)
Methodology: Phylogenetic trees and networks • Networks represent conflicting signals in a data set (eg, due to contact) and do not force the data into a tree graph Phylogenetic network of Indo-European 20 from Figure 5 in Gray et al (2010)
Results Phylogenetic network for four Tajik signers, AFSL, ASL, and RSL 21
Results Difference in edge lengths 22
Results Split separating AFSL and ASL from RSL and Tajik signers 23
Results Cluster of Tajik signers and RSL 24
Results Cluster of Tajik signers and RSL 25
Results: Summary • Robust split separating RSL and Tajik signers from AFSL and ASL • Distance of AFSL and ASL greater than distance of TSL and RSL • Two splits separate Tajik signers 1 and 2 from other TSL signers and RSL: possible effects of regional differences and/or age of exposure to signed language 26
Discussion: Relatedness • Little support for genetic relationship between Afghan SL and Tajik SL 27
Discussion: Relatedness • Characterizing similarity between Central Asian and foreign SLs • Iconicity (parallel development) • Diffusion • Genetic relationship 28
Discussion: Relatedness • Iconicity and shared gestural repertoires 29
Discussion: Relatedness • Afghan SL and American SL • Adult learning • Limited contact • Low lexical similarity • Suggests diffusion 30
Discussion: Relatedness • Tajik SL and Russian SL • Child learning • Intensity and duration of contact • High lexical similarity • Suggests possible genetic relationship 31
Conclusions • Different features of contact situations in Afghanistan and Tajikistan have led to different levels of lexical similarity to foreign sign language • Network analysis can help distinguish similarity based on parallel development from other causes, but cannot differentiate similarity due to inheritance or diffusion • Possible to conceive of relatedness among signed languages involving intensive contact, child learning, and shift by adults 32
References Bakker, Peter, Aymeric Daval-Markussen, Mikael Parkvall, Ingo Plag. 2011. Creoles are typologically distinct from non-creoles. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 26.5–42. Bryant, David, & Vincent Moulton. 2004. Neighbor-net: an agglomerative method for the construction of phylogenetic networks. Molecular biology and evolution 21.255–265. Campbell, Lyle. 2013. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 3rd edition. Gray, David Bryant, & Simon J. Greenhill. 2010. On the shape and fabric of human history. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 365.3923–3933. Guerra Currie, Anne-Marie P., Richard P. Meier, & Keith Walters. 2002. A crosslinguistic examination of the lexicons of four signed languages. In Modality and structure in signed and spoken languages, ed. by Richard P. Meier, Kearsy Cormier, & David Quinto-Pozos. Cambridge University Press. Haspelmath, Martin, & Uri Tadmor. 2009. Loanwords in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Huson, Daniel H., & David Bryant. 2006. Application of phylogenetic networks in evolutionary studies. Molecular biology and evolution 23.254–267. McKee, David, & Graeme Kennedy. 2000. Lexical comparison of signs from American, Australian, British, and New Zealand sign languages. In The Signs of Language Revisited: An Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima, ed. by K. Emmory & H. Lane, 49–76. Erlbaum. Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —— 2008. Language evolution: contact, competition and change. New York: Continuum. Nichols, Johanna, & Tandy Warnow. 2008. Tutorial on computational linguistic phylogeny. Language and Linguistics Compass 2.760–820. Ringe, Don, Tandy Warnow, & Ann Taylor. 2002. Indo-european and computational cladistics. Transactions of the Philological Society 100.59–129. Thomason, Sarah G., & Terrence Kaufman. 1988. Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press. Woodward, James. 1978. Historical Bases of American Sign Language. In Understanding Language through Sign Language Research, ed. by P. Siple, 333–348. Academic Press. ——. 2011. Some observations on research methodology in lexicostatistical studies of sign languages. In Deaf around the world: The impact of language, ed. by Gaurav Mathur & Donna Jo Napoli. Oxford University Press.
Acknowledgements • Special thanks to the Afghan and Tajik participants • Colleagues in the UT Austin signed language research group • Daniel Law and Richard P. Meier • NACIL organizing committee • This research was supported by the John F. Richards Fellowship from the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and by the Carlota Smith Fellowship from the UT Austin Linguistics department. 34
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